Breakup Rewrite
by purplefern
Summary: Being in a relationship with Star hadn't been easy lately. Tom figures it's time to talk. (A rewrite of the breakup in "Sad Teen Hotline")


_I wrote this at like 12:30 at night and it isn't edited. So it's probably not my best work. Enjoy anyway, I guess._

* * *

"I think.." Star couldn't hear what he said over the sudden roar of the helicopter, but she was concerned by how serious he looked. Whenever he looked that way, difficult conversations that she _really _didn't want to have seemed to happen

"What's that?" she asked.

After they both tried a few more times to communicate, frustrated, she just took out the annoying copter with her magic.

"Your highness has the floor" she joked, trying to avoid the strong sadness on Tom's face. After all, if she acted like nothing was wrong, then nothing would be wrong, right?

"Star" he said heavily, looking down at the roof, "I think we should break up".

"What?!" she cried, surprised, "Why? I know I'm not the _best _girlfriend" times of waving him off and brushing him off briefly fluttered by and made her slightly guilty, "but I'm definitely not the _worst_".

"I mean.." she floundered, justifying how _not_ a bad girlfriend she was, "I made all this food! I even got you this rare panda cat!"

She was distressed when the cute cat didn't even make Tom smile. This was _serious_. He really meant this. He sighed, looking away from her.

"I appreciate the effort. But, at the end of the day, It's not about what you say. It's about what you do. And... about what you don't say".

"What I-But we're doing fine! We can make this work!" she clung desperately to the idea that they could stay together, that this hard moment didn't have to happen. That she was a good girlfriend.

"That's just it, Star. I've thought that we could, I've thought it for a while. _I _want this to work. But I just... don't think you do".

She flustered defensively at the idea of their problems being her fault. In their relationships, it had always been _Tom _with the problems. She was always the one taking care of his problems. But before she could say anything, Tom continued.

"It's just...I'm tired of being the one carrying this Star. I try to talk to you, you shut me out, or run to Marco. I try to be a good boyfriend. I've tried talking to you about our problems, about the Marco kiss, about your problems with being queen, about all of that stuff, but you either don't talk to me, or you get defensive and mad at me. And whenever I want to spend time with you, it seems like you're always too busy." He stood, and started to pace, trying to avoid being angry. He didn't want to get angry at Star anymore. But he had also learned that there was a difference between being unjustly mad, and justly standing up for yourself.

"If you want to actually be together, you're not making it easy" he added with a short cynical laugh. He paused, in speech and in pacing, to tentatively look at Star. He _did_ want this to work. He loved Star. And it was better late than never to start communicating. He would give her a chance to talk to him, like he had been doing. Maybe this time she would open up to him, maybe this time they could actually work it out. There was a spark of hope in him, born by his love for her, that was still there in his mind.

Star didn't respond for a moment, didn't look at him, instead wrestling with all the things Tom had said. How could he say that she didn't want to be with him? She did all that girlfriend stuff, the hanging out, the cuddling, the kissing, and she _did to _talk to him. She tried to resolutely ignore when she stormed out when he brought up the photo-booth kiss, or when she abandoned him to go on his trip alone, or when she kept him at arm's length while they searched for her mom. Those were just freak stressful outliers. She's been totally open and communicative at any other moment.

"So you're saying it's my fault?" she asked accusatively, getting mad without thinking about it. The question fell to the roof like a lead weight, and she could hear Tom's breath hitch in the sudden silence that had fallen around them.

When she looked up to meet his eyes, she gave her own sharp inhale at his expression. He looked on the verge of tears. He shut his eyes tightly for a moment, shaking his head sharply. His fists clenched, and Star shrunk slightly against the cool stucco of the rooftop. She knew what Tom looked like when he was threatening to lose his temper. And that would not be good in such a close space.

But instead he took a deep breath, and gave her a sad smile, even though his eyes looked like pain and heartache itself.

"Okay, Star" he said, and she found herself slightly annoyed with how level he was keeping his voice. Just like all those other times when she had expected-even kind of wanted-him to get mad at her. But, she realized with a sudden wave of fondness and loss, he really had changed. When had he become so much better in relationships than her? When had she become the one that so easily lost her temper?

"I get it. You don't want to make this work. So...I'll let you go. You can do what you want. Be with Marco if you want. I just don't want you to stay with me if you don't want to".

He summoned a column of flames at the edge of the roof, and Star watched him, speechless. "I hope you're happy, whatever you choose to do. Goodbye, Starship".

He didn't let himself cry until after he was safely hidden in the wall of fire.

* * *

_As a passionate TomStar shipper, "Sad Teen Hotline" was a garbage episode for a number of reasons. The worst one being, not that they broke up, but that the writers had Tom break up with Star for the wrong reasons. Instead of addressing the actual issues in their relationship in S4, instead it's this "Tom thinks he's not good enough for Star. Also he ships Starco now" and that is __**so unfair **__to Tom. Star has been treating him badly all season, and I think the boy should have had a chance to stand up for himself. So I did a little rewrite that has Tom actually call Star out for all of her BS, in what I hope is a more mature and complex break up. I don't usually write shippy stuff though, so maybe I failed miserably. Either way, R&R thanks for enjoying my salt. _


End file.
